Previous episode reviews:
Episode 2: Into the Dalek
Episode 1: Deep Breath
Summary:
One day, The Doctor decides to take Clara to any place to meet anybody she desired. The Doctor scoffs when she suggests to meet Robin Hood and he dismisses it as legend. He is surprised then when he takes her to Sherwood Forest, England in the late 1100's and actually meets Robin Hood and his Merry Men. But as always whenever The Doctor goes on adventures, nothing is as it seems...
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After two episodes that had The Doctor battles his inner demons and discover more about his new personality, I guess the writers decided to have a fun little romp with this, the third episode of New Series 8/Season 34 Episode 3: Robot of Sherwood.
In previous seasons both in the Classic and Revival series, there are episodes that typically have The Doctor taking his companions to places just to have a good time, and are often not connected to larger stories. In the Classic series this practice was more commonplace, during a time when story arcs that involved The Doctor travelling to a time/place took place more than one episode. This was done away with in the Revival series for the most part when one episode usually featured just one story.
At any rate, in this episode, The Doctor and Clara just decide to have a fun time and they travel to 1100's England to meet Robin Hood, much to The Doctor's disgust and insistence that Robin doesn't exist. From there, characters from the story of Robin Hood make appearances, they fight the evil ruler of the land, and hijinks ensue. Overall this episode is probably the weakest in the season so far because it doesn't really do much to progress characters or provides to the overall narrative of the season, but that doesn't mean it's bad, far from it. Out of the episodes this season I'd rank it as "the least good".
So upon arrival, The Doctor and Robin meet, trade witty banter and insults and pretty much annoy each other throughout the episode while they try to solve the problem of the story. As setups go it's OK, it's just that it doesn't lend itself to much imagination. We all know that by the end the two won't exactly get along, but they'll part on good terms and have respect for one another. It is up to Clara to be the peacekeeper between the two, and she gets kidnapped in the middle of the episode anyway by the villain of the story: The Sheriff of Nottingham and his black knights.
We do get some amusing bits scattered throughout the episode. One of the best moments is where the newly arrived Doctor fights Robin Hood on a small log bridge over a river. It really evokes the spirit of Robin Hood, and it allows for some great quips between the two, Robin always being witty hero who laughs in the face of danger, and The Doctor sarcastically insulting and fully confident in his beliefs that Robin should not exist. In typical Doctor Who oddness, he fights off Robin not with a sword, but with...a spoon.
One sword-on-spoon fight later, the Doctor goes down, much to Clara's delight. The fight certainly wouldn't out of place an Errol Flynn movie. The whole sequence also brings to mind one of the Classic Doctors: Jon Pertwee, the 3rd Doctor. One of the 3rd Doctor's characteristics is that he is a fighter who is good with a sword. As the 3rd Doctor is my favorite of the Classic Doctors, this was great to see. I hope to see the Doctor's spoon again in the future.
While I said The Doctor and Robin arguing gets old very fast, other things he does, like trying to prove that this whole setup is fake by taking blood, hair and skin samples from the denizens of Sherwood Forest is good, as it shows how blunt The Doctor can be in this incarnation. But as was said, not everything is as it seems. In the famous scene of Robin winning the archery contest, we discover that army of the Sheriff of Nottingham are in fact, robots. Robots that pillage the land of its gold in order to fuel their spaceship, which is disguised as the evil castle in the countryside. They need the right amount of gold in order for their spaceship to break out of Earth's atmosphere, lest they blow up a good chunk of England.
...
Well, OBVIOUSLY!
A few other good scenes include Clara's banter with the Sheriff of Nottingham, as it shows the companion continuing to be a good foil and friend of the Doctor, as well as the Doctor himself rallying the captured peasants to revolt against the robot knights and even defeat them. There's also a moment where Robin doesn't believe he's a fictional being, but The Doctor shows him the future of his legends and the various interpretations of him throughout history. It's a nice scene, as it does bind him and The Doctor in a way that, in the end, both of them are just stories to be evaluated in the future.
Besides these moments there really isn't a whole lot to this episode. It's just a one-note breather episode that takes the show in a more humorous direction for a while. The only thing that could be important is when The Doctor discovers the true location the robots are trying to get to: The Promised Land. Yes, the same place the clockwork robot in "Deep Breath" was talking about. In another twist, Missy doesn't appear in this episode. I rather like that as it not only shakes up the formula, but also plays against our expectations. In the end, The Doctor saves the day, parts on good terms with Robin, Clara has her fun, The End of the episode.
Final thoughts:
This episode is not bad by any means. It has some good moments and it has some good action. It's just that nothing much really happened. There really was no sense of danger that The Doctor, Clara, or any of the important protagonists in this episode could die, or could change their outlooks because of this adventure. The Doctor and Clara enter and leave pretty much the same. It's the weakest, but in a good sense. It's the least good episode of the season so far, and it just serves as a breather before we head in the creepy in the next episode, "Listen"...
My score: 3.9/5
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